Melle Mel Says Says Kendrick Lamar Doesn't Influence Hip-Hop

Melle Mel says that Kendrick Lamar doesn't have any influence over hip-hop and shouldn't be considered one of the greatest rappers of all time. He explained his reasoning for the controversial take during a conversation with The Art of the Dialogue in a recent interview. Despite admitting Lamar is talented, he explained that no one "wants to rap like" him. He also said Lamar's songs “don’t translate into the street part of hip-hop.”

“I don’t know what records he made like that,” he went on. “I might know one or two of them, but I don’t think you even hear Kendrick in the club like that.” Mel added that regardless of his talent, it “doesn’t translate into the No.2 rapper of all time.” He continued: “Nobody wants to rap like Kendrick Lamar. Nobody wants to rap like Eminem. A lot of people wanted to rap, like ‘Pac and Biggie.”

Mel's comments on Kendrick Lamar aren't the only controversial opinion he shared during the interview. In another viral clip, Mel also said that Eminem is only considered one of the greatest ever because he's white. “Obviously he’s a capable rapper,” Mel said. “If you was talking about sales, he’s sold more than everybody. If you were talking about rhyme style, okay he got a rhyme style. But he’s white. He’s white! So now if Eminem was another n***a like all the rest of us, would he be Top 5 on that list when a n***a that could rhyme just as good as him is 35? That had records and all that? He’s 35. He’s white.”

From there, Mel compared Eminem's talents to Royce Da 5’9″ while mislabeling him as "Royce Da 6’9." “And anybody could be as mad … They could feel how they wanna feel," Mel said. "If you don’t think that race plays a part in the equation of how great he is — I heard one of the dudes that’s down with him, Royce Da 6’9″ or one of those – I heard he’s just as good as Eminem. Why he ain’t as big as Eminem? Because he’s Black! Ain’t none of that shit hard to figure out. Eminem gets a top spot because he’s white.”

[Via]